Modi's Gita gift to Putin underscores centuries of India-Russia Sanskrit ties.

• PM Modi gifted a Russian-translated Bhagavad Gita to President Putin, symbolizing centuries-old Sanskrit ties between India and Russia.
• St Petersburg became a premier center for Sanskrit studies in the 18th century, with a Sanskrit printing press established after a Russian traveler's return from India.
• Early Russian figures like merchant Afanasii Nikitin (15th century) and scholar Gerasim Lebedev (18th century) fostered Indian studies in Russia.
• Pioneering scholars like Robert Khristianovich Lenz, Otto Böhtlingk, and Pavel Yaknovlevich Petrov significantly advanced Sanskrit scholarship, particularly at Kazan University.
• Russian Indologists like Böhtlingk (Sanskrit-German lexicon), Ivan Minayev (manuscript collection), and Fyodor Stcherbatskoy (Buddhist/Hindu philosophy) cemented St Petersburg's status as a global Indology hub.

Why It Matters: PM Modi's gift highlights centuries of profound cultural & intellectual ties between India & Russia.